The Last Dragon
Columbia Films | Release Date: March 22, 1985 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneGene Siskel
The new martial-arts picture The Last Dragon is first and foremost a romantic comedy, and a very sweet one at that, and that's why it's martial-arts combat scenes work so well. We've been given enough time to care about who's kicking the stuffing out of whom. Read full review
75
Washington PostPaul Attanasio
An intoxicating blend of comedy, kung fu, corny romance, special effects and rock videos, it's as electrically sleepless as the New York it's set against. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJeffrey Ressner
Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon is a fun, frisky R&B/pop musical with touches of such recent hits as Purple Rain and The Karate Kid, but heavily sugar-coated with the glossy style of video music-movies like Flashdance and Footloose. Read full review
70
Screen RantGregory Nussen
Though it is sometimes a bewildering mess, the film totally works in spite of its more ludicrous intentions, a standing piece of proof that the more specific a piece of work is, the more universal it somehow becomes. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Take out the gangsters, pump up the Shogun role, give Taimak and Vanity a little more screen time, and you'd have a great entertainment instead of simply a great near-miss. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldLaurie Horn
The Last Dragon doesn't aim to be more than it is -- a good funny Afro-Japanese-American-hi tech-martial arts- archetypal-fairy tale. But that's something. [30 Mar 1985, p.D7]
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
An enjoyable pastiche of martial arts, romance, music, and video, THE LAST DRAGON presents a likable young hero, Leroy (Taimak), who aspires to become a kung fu master. Read full review
40
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The juxtaposition of head-spinning break dancing and mild martial arts (in which the fighters glow to show their level of mental attainment and nobody gets badly hurt) provides lots of whirling limbs, but the working into the storyline of a crook who wants to take over the nightclub to provide valuable exposure for his aspirant rock-goddess girlfriend seems lame indeed. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon is a multimedia movie of sorts, designed for those who can't bear the monotony of only one thought or sound or activity at a time. Read full review
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